Think about how much time your IT department spends on simple, manual tasks. Specifically, consider the number of incoming password reset requests that are sent on a daily basis. These requests undoubtedly bog down your highly skilled IT personnel who could be much more effective if they were focusing their efforts on more challenging and strategic issues. Furthermore, the time wasted on manual password resets comes at a much higher monetary expense than you may think. So, what’s the solution? Self-service automation. Here’s why.

There are a number of different ways to quantify how much password resets are costing your organization. For the sake of this article, let’s start by considering how much the average help desk call is. If you’re not quite sure how to calculate this, don’t worry. A surprising number of organizations don’t measure this information (though they arguably should). Here’s a good starting point:

In 2015, Gartner projected that the average cost of a help desk call was $19.07. The next logical step would be to take the total number of requests that were specifically related to password resets and multiply that by $19.07 to get the overall cost of these calls annually. According to industry standards, 40% of all help desk calls are related to password resets. Another assumption is that the average end-user contacts the help desk about 1.25 times per month.

Now, let’s assume that your organization employs 5,000 individuals. That would equal 6,250 help desk calls during a given month. If 40% of those calls are requests for password resets, that would equal 2,500 calls. Now, multiply that number by the average cost per help desk call:

2,500 x $19.07 = $47,675

That’s nearly $50k spent on simple, manual password resets each and every month.

Can your organization really afford to spend this kind of money on something so straightforward?

Conversely, by leveraging automation via a self-service portal, you can essentially retain that astronomical expenditure and better allocate it to more important issues.

Another way to calculate the cost of password resets is to determine how much each one of your IT Service Desk staff members is being compensated. Remember to include salary, bonuses, stock options, 401k contributions, health and wellness benefits, insurance, and of course the all-important perks like gym memberships, car allowances, etc. Total this up and then multiply that number by Gartner’s 40% figure to determine how much you’re paying help desk staff to reset passwords.

Don’t have that number handy?

No problem. Let’s turn once again to Gartner who has gone to a lot of trouble to figure out what the average salary and benefit costs per help desk support FTE (full-time equivalent) are. Again, we’ll just use Gartner’s numbers, which state that in 2015, the average salary and benefit costs per help desk support FTE working the IT Service Desk was just under $90k year.

Now we multiply that number by 40%, and we arrive at the average cost of password resets per help desk employee – which is a whopping $36,000 per year, per staff member. Total that up for all your FTE’s and this amount would represent your annual ROI of automating password resets.

Once again, is this an expense you can really justify for your organization? Perhaps it’s time to start honestly considering how self-service automation can really impact your business’ bottom line.

Why not give it a try for yourself? Simply click here to download your free 30 day trial of eyeShare and start saving money today.

About the Author

Gabby Nizri, Co-Founder, CEO of Ayehu
With nearly 20 years’ experience in technology innovation, Gabby is the driving force behind Ayehu. His multidisciplinary background in product engineering, sales and professional services brings together key elements necessary to deliver the company’s IT process automation solution that has proven to be a force multiplier for businesses facing operational IT and cyber security challenges. Since co-founding the company, Gabby has advanced his thought leadership in IT automation and been dedicated to setting the company on a path to strong growth and validation. The Ayehu platform continues to earn accolades from customers, partners and industry experts including Gartner, Red Herring and Deloitte. Prior to founding Ayehu, Gabby held various operational and management positions at successful Israeli technology enterprises including Infogate Online Ltd, Webmaster and Walla Communications Ltd.

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About Ayehu

Ayehu is the IT Automation and Orchestration platform built for the Digital Era. Powered by machine learning algorithms, it acts as a force multiplier for IT operations, security operations, managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs). Customers can significantly save time on manual and repetitive tasks, respond to incidents with pinpoint accuracy, accelerate mean time to resolution, and maintain greater control over IT infrastructure.